


A Deal with the Devil

by Windfall13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Body Shaming, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Langst, Mind Control, Possession, mentioned anorexia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 02:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15233412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windfall13/pseuds/Windfall13
Summary: If Lance were to get better, his teammates would accept him, right? That’s why he couldn’t miss out on a deal of a life time. Except for the fact that it was too good to be true.





	A Deal with the Devil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tsunbae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsunbae/gifts).
  * Inspired by [UPGRADE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155867) by [tsunbae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsunbae/pseuds/tsunbae). 



> This was based on a story made by the person I just gifted it to so the credit goes to them for this great idea. I love these types of prompts for some odd reason so I just decided to make one of these myself so I hope you guys enjoy!

Title: A Deal with the Devil   
  
Warnings: Body Shaming, mentioned anorexia

_ Demon Species Info: _ _  
_ _ Name: Heorym _ _  
_ _ Symptoms Notes: _ _  
_ _ •Sudden Hostility _

_ •Coldness _

_ •Change In Personality _

_ •Heavy desire to protect the demon _

_ •Fear of losing the demon _

_ •Constant Avoidance _

_ •talking to self _

_ •anxiety _

_ •Headaches _

_ •Lucid Dreams _

_ •Erratic Thoughts/forced thoughts _

_ •Slow increase of hostile/angry thoughts _

_ •Arrogant and/or self deprecating thoughts _

_  
_ _ Info: These demons have a desire to take over a body for themselves. They appear to be manipulative and they are more females than males that appear in the host’s mind. It is not contagious since this is not a disease. These demons travel from person to person until they find the right host and seem to stay with that person until their consciousness is weak to the point where the actual host is brain dead and the demon can easily control every part of the body. The hosts are typically depressed beforehand. _

  
When Lance woke up, it’s dark. A very dark blue, that is. But after only a few meters, it faded to black. He couldn’t see very far and he also couldn’t move. His wrists were behind his back where they were held down by chains that stuck to the ground.   
  
“Lance Charles Mcclain. The ‘tough’ blue Paladin. A young Cuban boy. But, he is most definitely not a soldier.” The voice was feminine and was thick with a latino accent.   
  
Lance winced at that statement, “Who are you?! What do you want?! Where the hell-“   
  
“You’re in your own mind, Lance. You’re shackled, huh? Well, you have been holding back your feelings. But that’s a good leap towards being a real paladin. I can help, you know? Help you become what  _ they  _ want.”   
———————————————————   
*Mere few hours ago*   
  
Lance knew he messed up. He was supposed to be getting better, he was supposed to be a more than perfect paladin. Yet he couldn’t even protect his own teammates. Pidge had to suffer for it, having them get shot by a bot. They all ended up losing quickly.    
  
“Lance! This is getting very repetitive! How is your own team supposed to trust you when you’re not protecting them?!” Allura scolded, trying to be as delicate as possible; but with her rising anger, it was near impossible for her.    
  
“Hey hey hey, go easy on him. It was a simple mistake.” Shiro came to defend Lance. Allura gritted her teeth, “A mistake made one too many times.”    
  
Lance didn’t say anything, knowing he’ll just be refuted. Allura rolled her eyes, “Now you have no excuses...”   
  
_ ‘You’d still yell at me if I had one...’ _ Lance thought unhappily. Keith decided to put salt on his wounds-more like dig the knife into the artery, “If you’re not going to step up, then we’ll have to replace you, Lance. We can’t go on like this.”   
  
The “Useless Paladin” didn’t need to be said out loud. Shiro hissed at this, “Keith, that’s not-”   
  
“Yeah! We just need a better Lance.” Pidge said shrugged innocently. Lance bit his lower lip to keep his tears in but they were already gathering. Hunk defended also, “Listen, Keith, as much as we all want ‘a better Lance’, all he needs is a little bit more training! He’s already helping us a lot!”   
  
Keith narrowed his eyes, “Doing what?”   
  
Lance stared at Hunk with glistening eyes, begging him to defend him more.    
  
“W-Well, for one, he helps with planning. And he cares for us. He always knows how to cheer people up, you know? He’s always the one to take care of us!”   
  
Everyone stared at Hunk for a moment, considering his points until Keith forcefully rebutted, “This is a war, Hunk. He shouldn’t be worrying about things like that. He should focus on getting better himself by training. We can take care of ourselves just fine.”    
  
Pidge pushed her glasses up blindly, “Maybe Keith’s right guys.”   
  
Shiro crossed his arms, “Maybe. Maybe you just need to train more, Lance.”   
  
“Get more serious, perhaps...” Allura suggested.   
  
Lance was at a loss for words. This was his team, right? Why were they being harder on him than usual? His heart was officially crushed when Hunk turned away and whispered, “Yeah...”   
  
“O-Oh, okay...thank you for the...feedback...” Lance said absent minded. Coran’s chipper voice filled the room after the harsh training, “Alright, Paladins! Training is over. Go and get some well deserved rest!”   
  
Lance was the first to make his way out. He didn’t show the flinch when he heard Pidge snicker, “Hehehe...watch him just go play video games again. Or spend hours on his ‘handsome’ face. He’s never gonna take this seriously.”   
  
He even heard Allura snicker and Keith give a small, “Heh.” Shiro scolded them silently for this. 

 

He finally let his tears fall.   
———————————————————   
Lance realized he’s fallen asleep in the control room when hd woke up. He rubbed his eye before all the memories of his recent scolding hit him again. He sniffled as more tears started to form.   
  
**‘Aw. Is he gonna cry? Lancey Lance finally learns about reality and it’s not the way he pictured it?’** **  
**   
Lance groaned as his head starts to hurt. He clutched it,  _ ‘What the hell? Who is this? What is this voice? Why is my head hurting?’ _ _  
_   
**‘Suck it the fuck up, big baby. It’s a headache. You know what your friends deal with everyday? Your bullshit. To the point where it gives them migraines. And me? I’m the one who’s gonna make you better! So, let’s discuss this-‘** **  
**   
There was a door sliding open. Immediately, Lance’s headache stopped. He felt no more pain.    
  
_ ‘That’s odd.’ _ Lance thought as he conjured up a smile for Coran, “Hey! Coran! My main man! What can I do for you?”    
  
For a little extra, he did his finger gun. Coran only continued to stare in worry at him, “Are you okay, my boy? That was quite a harsh beating you took out there.”   
  
“Huh? Of course my beautiful face is alright! I’m basically untouchable!”   
  
“Lance, I’m talking about that verbal fight you had. Not a fight but more of a one sided argument.”   
  
Lance looked away from him, “Of course I’m fine. It takes a lot to hurt Lover Boy Lance!”   
  
He then sniffled again as he wipes his nose on his jacket, “A-A lot...”   
  
Coran held out his arms and Lance instantly goes to his embrace. He nuzzled his face into the Altean’s shoulder and cried his eyes out. Coran patted him on the back, “There, There, number 3.”   
  
It was ugly, at least that’s what Lance thought. It was dirty and weak. There he was, hiccuping and sobbing into an Altean’s shoulder; an Altean who lost almost everything when his own home planet was destroyed. Lance had everything; hell, he could even be called spoiled. God, he was weak. Lance finally stopped after about 4 minutes, “I-I’m so sorry, Coran. I should’ve just-“   
  
“No. Cry if you need to. I’m here for you, Lance. Everyone else is too. Don’t take it the wrong way; they still care about you. They’re just worried for your safety is all!”   
  
Lance nodded as he wiped his years away, “Yeah. Maybe.”   
  
Lance waved Coran off with a small smile as he left the room. But as he turned, he saw Keith and Shiro who was near the end of the hallway. Lance stared in shock, “Shiro? Keith?”   
  
But just as Shiro was opening his mouth to say hi, Lance heard Keith murmur something along the lines of, “Useless Paladin.” And Keith walked off. Shiro huffed, “K-Keith!”   
  
Shiro looked at him with something Lance could identify as pity, “I’m so sorry Lance.”    
  
Shiro ran off to find Keith. Probably to force him to apologize.   
  
Lance then felt unsure about Coran’s words.   
———————————————————   
“Hey, so do you think Keith’s okay?” Lance had asked while his two Garrison friends worked on something. Pidge doesn’t bat an eye, “Yeah.”   
  
“He called me useless...”   
  
“That’s great, Lance.”   
  
Lance turned his attention to Hunk, “Hey, buddy, help me out here!”   
  
“Well what can you do? That’s just Keith.”   
  
Lance frowned, “Are you guys even listening to me?”   
  
“Mmmhm.” Pidge said as they tweaked another part of their invention.    
  
“I hate myself. I’m useless and stupid.”   
  
“Interesting, Lance.” Pidge answered quickly.    
  
“I think I should leave Voltron...”   
  
“Cool bud but could you leave for a second? Nothing against you but we’re kinda but right now.” Hunk asked as politely as he could(bless the innocent man’s heart).   
  
Lance felt tears gather up again, “Fine. If you want me to leave, I’ll go. Good bye...”   
  
“Oh! You’re actually leaving? Okay, bye Lance.” Pidge said. Hunk waved him off without batting an eye. Lance just pushed his chair away and walked out the room. When he was out of the room entrance, he ran down the hallway crying. His vision blurred from the amount of tears and he tripped. Unfortunately, it happened to be in front of Allura and Shiro having a conversation in the hall, near the kitchen. Lance knew his bedroom wasn’t far.   
  
“Lance?!” Allura yelped, “Are you o-“   
  
Lance didn’t give them another second to check on him. He pushed them out of his way to continued to run to his room. He didn’t look back. Lance finally slowed down when he approached his room door. He slumped into his room and purposely face plants into his pillow. He gripped it as he cried into it. He didn’t know how long he cried but his heart was still heavy afterwards.    
  
_ ‘I don’t have to deal with this shit anymore. I’ll turn that empty threat into reality. I’ll actually leave. I should tomorrow or the next time I wake up. I don’t care anymore. I just want to be with my family again...’  _

 

With these comforting thoughts in mind, Lance drifted back into another sleep.   
———————————————————   
*Current Time*   
  
“So you want to make a deal?”   
  
“Well yeah. I wanna help you out? What do ya say?”   
  
Lance looked down at the blue floor. She wasn’t even physical. She didn’t even have a name!   
  
“Hey wait! Y-You’re too sketchy! Who are you?!”   
  
“Me? Well you can call me...let’s just go with Midnight.”   
  
Lance paused before he said sarcastically, “Oooooooo. Midnight. Soooo scary and original...”   
  
The voice grumbled before it gave out a new name, “Fine! Let’s just name myself Ash! Since I seem invisible to you!”   
  
“You are! I can’t see you physically!”   
  
“That’s not the point, Lancey Lance-“   
  
“Don’t fucking call me that.”   
  
“The point is, Lance, you’re feeling useless. Tired of putting up with so much everyday. Tired of being an outcast. Tired of being a punching bag. Trust me, sweetie, I know! I can help you, Lance. Help you become what you want and what they need you to be instead of...this shitty ass Paladin.”   
  
Lance didn’t wince this time. He knows it’s all true. He wants to become better. But he then considered his second option, “But I’m leaving tomorrow so there’s no point, Ash.”   
  
A loud barbaric laugh boomed, “Oh my fucking god! You’re seriously still considering pussying out?! Fine, go ahead...”   
  
“Really?”   
  
“But you certainly won’t be missed. In fact, they probably won’t even know. Replace you with Keith and they’re good to go. After all, they all want you to be Keith. They just haven’t said that yet.”   
  
Lance stared into the endless abyss with horror and tears.    
  
“Stop being a kid! We’re in a war! Do you think someone’s just gonna come along and baby you every time you cry?! No! Stop helping them! Focus on supporting the team, not helping your ‘friends’. It’s their fault for being weak and pulling you down to the very bottom.”   
  
Lance didn’t know what to say. He knew it’s all true. But he pretended it wasn’t the truth. He thought there would be some good in the world...no...good in the universe but there wasn’t any. He was all by himself. He had nobody. But she was there to pick up the pieces. He felt a shadowy hand pick up his chin and turn his face to his left. It was a figure made of purple. Its body shape was an hourglass and her face only had yellow, seductive eyes. But Lance could see that it was smiling. No, not it...but she. She was smiling.    
  
“I’m all you have, baby.” She said with a whisper, her lips barely touching his, “Shake my hand. And the deal and sealed.”   
  
Lance knew what she was doing. But it wasn’t about Ash. It was about the bigger picture. Everything was against him. He knew that the cards are all against him. So at that point, he had to play the trump card.   
  
“C’mon baby. Won’t you shake a poor girl’s hand?” Ash asked, a hand being extended. Although hesitant, Lance grabbed her hand with his shaky one. She slowly faded away, “Our contract...is sealed...”   
———————————————————   
Lance woke up with a gasp. His wrist burned, like heat was directly being applied. He gasped in pain as he quickly yanked the left sleeve of his jacket up to see something bright red and sizzling. He watched it as it died down into black on his skin. But some holes in the design were still his skin color. Lance then realized that the design was a chain going around his wrist.   
  
**“Hey, sweetie. You got nothing to worry about.”** Ash’s voice reassured him through his mind,  **“Happens when you make the deal. It’s like a signature or something.”** **  
**   
“A-Ash? You’re inside my head?” Lance asked curiously.    
  
**“Yeah. Where the hell else am I gonna be when I’m helping you?”** **  
**   
“I thought you’d be physical.”   
  
**“Uh hell no! Do you know what your team will do? They’ll be on me today, protecting you and then keep on ignoring you the day after and I won’t be able to help!”** **  
**   
She had a point. Lance sighed, “Right. So how are you going to help me?”   
  
**“Well, you gotta do whatever I say. I don’t wanna control your body, honey. That would require more work than necessary for me. I’ll command you and you do it. Not so hard. I might seem demanding and bossy but it’ll help you in the long run.”** **  
**   
“How long will this take?”   
  
**“Depends on how compliant you are and how your team accepts you. It could take less than a week or it could take months.”** **  
**   
Lance groaned, “Great...”   
  
**“Okay! First thing’s first is breakfast! You will eat all 3 course meals but after one week, you’ll eat 2 courses and after another week, only 1.”** **  
**   
“O-One? But why?”   
  
**“Sweetie, let’s be honest here, you’re fat as fuck. Not to mention that eating time can go to training like they said. You do want to become what they want fast, right?”** **  
**   
Lance took a couple moments to think before he lets out a shaky breath, “Y-Yeah. Okay.”   
  
Lance silently walked towards the kitchen. It was dark along with the hallways. He peered through the kitchen to see if anyone was there. Perfect. There was no one. He grabbed a bowl and filled it with regular goo.   
  
**“From now on, you’ll be eating food goo, not that fat boy’s ‘cuisines’.”** Ash said. Lance frowned at this, “Hey. I know you’re helping me but don’t piss on my friend **.”** **  
**   
**“Is he really your friend?”** **  
**   
“Don’t call him fat. EVER!”   
  
Ash grumbled before she pouted out,  **“Fine.”** **  
**   
Lance enjoyed the peace and silence of the room. He then realized what he was missing out on. He was talking so much that he never quite realized how beautiful the castle really was. But that was before there was conversation that was quiet at first before it increased in volume. It was his “friends”. Lance frowned at this,  _ ‘Hey wait. They’re still my friends even if they are kinda cold with me.’ _ _  
_   
**“Don’t bother smiling at them. They don’t fucking deserve it.”** Ash said, some annoyance in her voice. Lance doesn’t look up at his friends as they sat down around him. Of course, Pidge and Hunk sat close while he was one seat away. Allura and Shiro sat opposite of Hunk and Pidge with Keith sitting next to Shiro as Coran made his way to the kitchen.   
  
**“What’s mustache doing?”** Ash asked. Lance answered in his mind, ‘I think Hunk was too tired to battle over who cooks so I guess Coran’s cooking.’   
  
**“Is it shit?”**   
  
_ ‘As much as I love and care about him, his cooking is bad.’ _ _  
_   
“Morning Lance!” Pidge said energetically. Lance was about to start up his usual routine before Ash scolded him,  **“No you’re not. Nope. You gotta let them know you’re not gonna be Lancey Lance anymore. You’re gonna be Lance and you’re gonna show them. Just say a simple good morning back; no extras today, sweetie.”** **  
**   
Lance realized his mouth was opened to respond before he looked away from Pidge and said a simple, “Morning.”   
  
Pidge was confused before they turned away from Lance to finish their conversation with Hunk.    
  
_ ‘Did I hurt them?’ _ _  
_   
**“Sweetie, it doesn’t matter. They’ve hurt you!”**   
  
_ ‘When the hell did this turn into vengeance?’ _   
  
**“Still becoming Lance, right?”**   
  
Lance knew he shouldn’t question her. He really wanted to live up to his team’s expectations. He continued to eat until he finished his bowl, which was perfect timing to Coran’s entrance with food. Lance quietly went to put his bowl into the sink. He wasn’t noticed until Allura pointed out, “Lance? Leaving so soon? You haven’t even eaten yet.”   
  
Lance gripped the doorway hard. He wanted to yell at her. He just wanted to understand why he was ignored again.    
  
**“No. Don’t say it. If you cry your problems out, they’ll pity you and ignore you the next day. I’ll be forced to take over your body.”** **  
**   
_ ‘You’re right.’ _ Lance thought angrily,  _ ‘When have they ever cared?’ _ _  
_   
“Yes princess. I have already eaten.” Lance responded calmly. 

  
“Really? Eaten what?” Pidge asked. Lance glared daggers at them but knew better as he let up his gaze, “Space goo.”   
  
“You mean you all didn’t notice?” Coran raised an eyebrow, “He was the first to sit at the table before any of you!”   
  
Pidge whispers something in Hunk’s ear and he giggles. Lance felt his heart drop. They were talking about him again, weren’t they?   
  
**“No. You don’t give a shit anymore about what they think. Your mind is narrowly focused on becoming the best damn Paladin the world has ever seen.”** **  
**   
“Yeah. I’ve already eaten like Coran said! I’ll just go and train right now.”   
  
“You mean go play video games?” Keith added with a scoff and Pidge tries to high fives him for the joke. Keith doesn’t return it. Lance was losing his temper.  _ ‘When had I ever felt so angry before? I’m a normally chill guy.’ _ Lance thought as he walks out of the room as calmly as possible.    
  
**“Hey. Don’t worry, sweetie. The time will come. They will pay for that.”** Ash comforts him.  _ ‘But this isn’t about vengeance! This is about my friends!’  _ But the thought was more quickly pushed aside from his mind. At that point, he was uncertain about who he was doing it for.   
———————————————————   
**“Okay! We’ll start off easy. What was the last level you were on?”** **  
**   
“Oh! I was on...level 7?”   
  
**“Damn! That’s it?! Yeah, you do need to get better. Worry not! I shall help you.”** **  
**   
Lance rolled his eyes at her sarcastic speech, “Okay, so what do you need me to do?”   
  
**“For warm ups, you’ll either be stretching or running laps-“** **  
**   
“But that’s so hard!”   
  
**“Get over it. It’ll depend on how I feel. Then, you’ll start 3 levels below what you last ended on to get into the groove of things. You’ll keep training until I say you stop. It’ll take hours.”** **  
**   
It was out of his comfort zone. But he had to do it. For his team. He would prove how great he really is. So with that, Lance nodded to himself, “What do I do first?”   
  
**“Let’s take it easy today. 5 laps around the training room and 2 hours of training.”** **  
**   
5 laps later and Lance had never felt so exhilarated in his life. He panted for air but he felt so powerful! Like he could take on the world! He wiped the sweat that was crawling down his chin with a grin.    
  
**“Niiiiiiiice.”** Ash said with a giggle,  **“Aren’t you feeling kinda hot in that jacket? Take it off. Flex those babies.”** **  
**   
Lance didn’t hesitate to follow the next order. He swiftly took it off in one move and chucked it over to where his stash of water bottles and bayard was, revealing his grey, sleeveless shirt with a blue collar. Despite his skinny look, he had some muscle on his body. That combined with sweat was making Ash more than happy, which creeped Lance out.   
  
“Okay! Next command please!”   
  
**“Okay! Okay! Commence Level 4, shooting.”** **  
**   
Wiping another sweat above his brow, he went to his grab his bayard and repeated after Ash before he went into some brutal training.   
———————————————————   
**“Well done! Now we’re getting somewhere!”** Ash complimented, clapping her hands. In the 2 hour period, Lance had managed to reach level 16, which was higher than both Pidge and just above Allura’s but just below Hunk’s and way below Shiro’s and Keith’s. Pretty average, but he needed to be higher.   
  
**“Since this is your first day, Imma take it easy on you. You deserve a bath. And this will be the only day where you get to pamper yourself. No more skin care; that shit takes time. Just stick with face washing.”** Ash droned. Lance would’ve fallen asleep at that point if it weren’t for how bright the Castle was. He just sighed blissfully as he took a water bottle and his jacket to his room. Thankfully, there was no one who met him in the hallways as he slipped inside his room. For the first time, he didn’t feel a need to cry into his pillow. He threw his jacket onto his bed and went to the bathroom to turn on the bathtub to scalding water. People might flinch at that but he found it comforting.   
  
He rummaged under his sink to find a bath bomb that was hidden behind his body care products and also grabbed his liquid body wash. As the water ran, he dropped the bath bomb in it and then continued to pour half the contents of his soap bottle into the bathtub. He stripped down and placed his clothes on the toilet before stopping the water, which was 90% close to overflowing. Lance barely hisses as his body made contact with the hot water. He sighed when his body was completely in the tub; he leaned his head against the wall.   
  
“Damn. I hadn’t had a bath in so many years.” A voice said. It sounded like Ash’s, but less echoey, “You should feel spoiled, Lancey.”   
  
Shocked, Lance’s eyes shot up to see a woman in the bathtub with him. She looked Latino. She had blonde thick hair tied in a ponytail and she wore thick makeup but it didn’t cover the mole near her left eye. She happily toyed with a knife. Worst of all, she was naked, her thick thighs beneath the water surround Lance and her average sized chest almost fully out to the world.    
  
“Who the hell are you?!” Lance yelled so loud that maybe every Paladin in the castle had heard him. The woman dropped the knife in the tub and shushed him, “Lance! It’s me! Ash! You know? The voice that was inside your head? We made a deal!”   
  
“Yeah but I don’t look at every woman and automatically say that they’re Ash!”   
  
Ash grumbled, “Ok fine!”   
  
“Why are you even here? In physical form?” Lance asked with annoyance. Ash asked with innocence, “Can’t I just bond with my customers? I’d like to get to know you more, Lance.”   
  
Lance raised an eyebrow, “I thought you knew more than enough about me?”   
  
“That was just me observing from your eyes. I can’t really read into your mind until you’ve allowed me to. That being said, you have a family in Cuba?”   
  
“Yeah. My father died before I was even born. My mom married again when she found out she was having my brother Marco. My step father was an ass though. His name was Marcel. By the time I was 6, around Veronica’s 9 months, he would always call me lazy and stupid when he had the chance. When I came out bi, he wasn’t even very supportive. I can’t even have one family time with him without the dude calling me out for it.”   
  
“Your mother never broke up with him?”    
  
“He had money, that’s why. Mom was always busy with taking care of us and the house so she couldn’t find a job. It’s not like she ever cared; she was always just busy and had a hard time remembering some things too.”

  
“Marco never stood up for you?”   
  
“He was too young. When Marco was 8, the tides started to change. He started to stand up for me and retort with such angry language. He grew up to be a hot head and even bit Marcel at one point when he made fun of my bisexuality.”   
  
“Did it stop?”   
  
“Yes. It was when I was packing up for the Garrison. Marcel had a field day with me, happily punching and kicking me around because I was, ‘Wasting the family’s money.’ Marco caught him and went to get my mom. Marco was old enough to explain what my Marcel had did to me. She divorced Marcel. That was also when she was going to have my second brother, Luis.”   
  
“Damn. That’s a nightmare.” Ash scoffed.   
  
“Yeah but I still miss my  _ familia _ .” Lance said, tears threatening to fall, “I would do anything to come home to them.”   
  
Ash put her hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring smile, “Sweetie, to be painfully honest, it’ll take a while. But you will go back to them. The sooner you get better, the sooner you kill Zarkon, the sooner you get back to your  _ familia _ .”   
  
Lance gave a small, insecure smile. He finally had someone to confide in, someone he could talk to. Someone who would help him finally get back at his friends. Wait, no...get better for his friends. Things were looking up for him.    
———————————————————   
**“** **_Querido, Querido, Querido_ ** **, you call that good? You gotta push yourself!”** **  
**   
It’s day 5. Five days since he saw his fellow teammates( **_eNem1eS_ ** ). He was glad though. He was on level 32. He’s been good so far, pushing himself to his own limits. He was still eating 3 times a day but after a couple more days, he’ll only be allowed to eat 2 times a day. Every time he ate, he’d always managed to eat before his team came to the dining room or after. He’s avoided going to the control room or bridge. He’s even avoided the pods. And the training? A brutal six hours before he retired and went to the shower. He didn’t even spend that long in the shower or bathroom in general anymore. His freckles started to show and the hair he normally kept short was growing out, although not very fast.   
  
He started to get cuts and bruises. What can he say? He was always bad at close combat. At best, he can only wrap them in bandages, to the point where he could looked like a mummy. He even ended up getting a scar above his eyebrow. But he was happier. He was getting better. He was going to get back at his teammates( **_r1VaLs_ ** ). He was going to show them he is getting better for them too.    
  
“End training sequence.” Lance panted. He took a wet towelette from his stash. He started taking those after day 3. He patted away some sweat away from his forehead before taking a larger towelette from the stash and semi wrapping it around his neck.   
  
**“You’re getting good. I like it!”** Ash giggled. Lance replied as he started to stuff the towels, jacket and water bottle into his bag, “Yeah! I finally get to show them how good I am. Maybe after some more training-”   
  
“L-Lance?” A meek voice came from the entrance. Lance turned his attention to see Hunk and Coran. Lance was stuck between glaring at them and just looking away. In the end, he just looked away, continued packing and replied with, “Yeah?”   
  
“We haven’t seen you in a few days, number 3. Is everything alright?” Coran asked.   
  
“I’m fine.” Lance said without looking up at all, “I’ll just be leaving, thank you.”   
  
“Lance, I-“ Lance didn’t let Hunk finish as he pushed past his ex friend. Ex friend? Wasn’t he his best friend? No...he wasn’t. Not anymore. He betrayed him. Left him. But Hunk tried to defend him. It wasn’t his fault! ...No. He still left Lance. He left for that geeky paladin. Lance couldn’t  just keep lying to himself. And damn does it feel good to say the truth in his mind.    
  
**“That’s right, baby. He’s not your friend anymore. None of them are. You’re here to prove your worth. Show them forcefully that you’re not worthless.”** **  
**   
Wait. What was he doing it for? His friends? No, that didn’t sound right. He’s doing for himself. He’s going to get back at his so called “friends”.  **_Lady Vengeance, here I come._ ** **_  
_ ** ———————————————————   
Hunk was panicking as Lance left. Did he truly make him mad? Was Lance really hurt by what the team said? Coran patted him on the back, “It’s not your fault. You defended him. It’s all our fault; as a team.”   
  
“No...if only I tried harder. If only I just did something else...” Hunk was close to crying.   
  
“I have a feeling...we pushed Lance over the edge.” Coran said, walking towards the training computer near the entrance where they were standing. He tapped on Lance profile and then tapped “Training Hours”.   
  
“O-Oh dear.” Coran paled. Hunk look from behind Coran, “Wh-What?”   
  
Lance had been training for 20 hours in five days.    
———————————————————   
Day 16. Lance stuck with one meal a day, 12 hours of training a day. It’s tiring. But he had to prove himself to the team. He’s a soldier. A warrior. It’s been four days since he last saw another human life. It was repetitive but he knew he was going to get better.   
  
“Be like Keith...be like Keith...be like Keith...be like Keith...” Lance repeated to himself, feeling his head getting light headed.  _ ‘No...it’s only been 8 hours! I can’t just-‘ _ _  
_   
**“Alright sweetie. That’s enough training for today actually.”** **  
**   
Lance groaned in frustration. He was only on level 56. It’s far past Keith but he needed to get even better. But he also had to listen to Ash. He called it off, “End Training Sequence.”   
  
He stumbled towards his bag to wrap the same wet towel around his neck. He took his water bottle with him before making his way to his room. Ash spoke up,  **“Alright. I give you tomorrow all day to pamper yourself however you want. Take care of your body, sleep, bathe, or talk with your friends...if you even want to. I don’t want you dying on me.”** **  
**   
Lance could feel relief go throughout his system. All he knew was that he wanted the sweet relief of sleep. The moment he went into his room, he threw bag and water bottle onto the bed with no care and slept on top of his sheets with the wet towel still on his neck.    
———————————————————   
Lance didn’t know how many had pass when he was woken up by a knock. Then there came a sweet British voice Lance barely recognized.    
  
“Lance? There’s going to be a team meeting! Please come to the dining room in 5 minutes!” Oh. It was Allura...a team meeting? This wasn’t about him, was it? No, it couldn’t be. Nobody would care enough. Lance stretched his limbs out, took his green jacket from the bag and slipped it on. He walked out of his room and made his way to the dining area. Of course, he was the first one there. Not long after, he could hear the voices of his  **_tReIaVmAmLatESes_ ** coming towards the room....what the hell? Was his thinking lapsing? What was he going to call them? ...Ah well, it didn’t matter now. He could hear his enemies coming. It didn’t sound right out loud but in his head, it seemed appropriate. No, it seemed perfect. They all belittled him.  **_ALL OF THEM_ ** ! ALL OF THEM! All of them! All of them. All of them...all of them? He felt like he was missing a few people. Weren’t there a few friends who were actually there for him? Hank? No, there was only Hunk and he had been ignoring Lance since they’ve got here...what does it matter? They’ve all been asses and it’s time to get back at them. He’ll show them how good he actually is.   
  


**“That’s it. They mean nothing to you, Lancey.”** Ash silently said in his mind. With all those thoughts racing through his mind, he barely registered anyone coming in or sitting down or even saying something. Lance shook his head free of the invasive( **_helping_ ** )thoughts and gave his attention to the woman up front.   
  
“Paladins, we have a Galra fleet attacking the Balmera again. They are attempting to land on it once again. We must hurry and stop them from landing on the Balmera.” Allura explained briefly. Lance could hear Hunk groan. “Why can’t they just leave poor Shay alone?!”   
  
Pidge patted him on the back in comfort as Keith ignored the fiasco, “What are we waiting for then?”   
  
Ash celebrated in Lance’s mind,  **“Hell Yeah! We get to show them how it’s done!”** **  
** ———————————————————   
Needless to say, the second Lance got out there was the second he laid waste to half the troops already. His shots were on point, his strategy was more than perfect. The team couldn’t see clearly but they knew who was taking out most of the troops. Shiro complimented him, “Woah, Lance?! That was amazing.”   
  
“Are you trying to show off?” Keith joked but frowned when Lance didn’t reply. But that streak ended when he found his lion bumping into Yellow.    
  
“Lance, watch your surroundings!” Allura exclaimed with horror. Lance wanted to retort but Ash stopped him,  **“Pay no attention to her, darling. Focus on what’s in front of you...”** **  
**   
And Lance did until an ion cannon shot at him as well. This time, Shiro scolded, “Lance! Pay attention!”   
  
Automatically, Lance took it as another reprimand. He growled, “They’re not-“   
  
**“Lance! Pay attention. They aren’t worth your time-“** **  
**   
“Team! Form Voltron!” Lance could hear Shiro say it so suddenly that he almost wasn’t ready. Each Paladin got into position, almost forming the robot. Unfortunately, nothing happened. They tried to stay in formation until the ion cannon shot at in between them.    
  
“What happened?!” Pidge yelped. The Paladins were each clueless, left to fail at defending themselves or completing the mission. Allura shouted furiously, “Which one of you messed it up?!”   
  
“I-I don’t know! We all don’t! It just didn’t form!” Hunk stammered, shooting down another Galran Ship. Lance just stared into the open space with terrified eyes, hands shaking on the controls, “N-No...this wasn’t supposed to-“   
  
**“Lance! Don’t worry about it. This is only a minor stump.”** **  
**   
“A minor stump?! What the hell-“   
  
**“Focus all your power on this lion, Lancey. Think about the ion cannon that’s shooting at your right now...”** **  
**   
Lance frustratedly huffed out a breath before closing his eyes and relaxing his muscles. He breathes slowly, channeling his energy.    
  
**“Now fire!”** **  
**   
Lance opened his eyes and fire whatever weapon she told him to. Just then, a blue laser shoots out of Blue’s mouth, slicing off the ion cannon and cutting down all the ships that were in trajectory. Lance was shocked, “Wha-“   
  
**“We’re getting there...”** Lance could feel Ash smirk.    
  
“Who that heck did that?!” That was from Pidge. Did no one seriously notice?   
  
“I don’t know! But that was awesome!” Hunk cheered. Lance could hear Shiro sigh in relief, “Alright guys. Let’s head back.”   
  
Lance was close to blowing up when he landed his lion. Was he seriously that invisible? It was clearly him who blew it up! Coran has a camera system outside the castle; surely it would’ve recorded that part. He stormed his way to the control room.   
  
**“Calm down, Lancey. The last thing we want is for everyone to know your insecurities.”** **  
**   
She was right. They’d just make him believe he mattered before ignoring him again. They’d get rid of Ash. That thought never occurred to Lance just now but it filled him with fear. What if they tried to get rid of her? How would he be helped if she was gone?    
  
“Ash? Would they try and get rid of you if they found out everything?”   
  
There was a silence before Ash stated blankly,  **“Yes, Lance. If they found out I’m here, they’ll kill me.”** **  
**   
He didn’t know why but he was overcome with the desire to protect her and the fear of losing her. He’d be alone...again.   
  
“I-I don’t want to be alone.” Lance cried. Ash comforts him,  **“Now now. You won’t be. Just don’t let them find out anything about you. I’ll be here for as long as you need.”** **  
**   
Lance smiled both in his mind and physically, “Thank you...thank you so much.”   
  
**“Now let’s go. Or else Princess Leia’s gonna give us shit.”** **  
**   
Lance was the last one there-no surprise-and Allura was praising them for another job well done. That was until she glared at Lance, “You were only impressive for a few minutes. Why can’t you show that throughout the whole mission? Why can’t you push yourself to do better? You were useless for the rest of the mission.”   
  
Lance was getting angry. He wanted to scream or yell. For some reason, this time was different because he wanted to hurt her badly. And this time, he wasn’t holding back.   
  
**“Nuh uh uh. Don’t lash out. I can help you out. Just give me some control for a moment, alright?”** **  
**   
Lance relaxed,  _ ‘I...Yeah. Okay.’ _   
  
Then Lance feels himself start to talk, “I’m sorry but I’m just gonna interrupt you there.”   
  
Allura looked offended, “What?”   
  
Everyone else in the room stared at Lance in shock. Lance continued on calmly, “I took out half the fleet the moment I came out there, which was a lot better than what the other did.”   
  
“Yes but you dawdled after-“   
  
“Let me point something out, ‘Princess’.” Lance hisses, “You know who shot down that ion cannon and destroyed the rest of the fleet? Me. All I did was make a couple mistakes. You make mistakes too, don’t you?”   
  
Shiro tried to calm down the situation, “Lance, wait-“   
  
“I bet your biggest one was ever leaving your father behind, right?”   
  
The room was stone cold as he said this. Then he feels a sharp pain on his face as he head was veered to the side. Allura yelled at him with tears in her eyes, “H-How could you?!”   
  
She ran out of the room. The Paladins and Coran ran out to comfort her, leaving Lance in the room. He stood there for a while. He didn’t know how long. He was supposed to be wallowing in guilt. He just slammed his friend. But... **he had never felt so good in his life.** **  
** ———————————————————   
They were all in the pod room. Allura’s head was hidden between her legs, tears silently dripping down her face as the Paladins tried their best to comfort her. Coran slowly rubbed her back.    
  
“Wh-why?” Allura sobbed after some minutes later, “Why did Lance...say that? Did I really hurt him that bad?”   
  
Hunk reassured her, “No! He can take a lot more! He just seems stressed lately, you know?”   
  
“From what? The only stress is training, which he doesn’t do, and defeating Zarkon, which is pretty much the norm now.” Pidge said, rolling their eyes. Keith leaned back and crossed his arms, “If it’s any help, he’s been avoiding us too. We haven’t seen him at all lately.”   
  
Allura sniffled, “R-Really?”   
  
Hunk replied, “Yeah. He was also very cold with me and Coran too when we did finally see him.”   
  
“What about that time during the mission when he was talking to himself?” Shiro asked. Keith looked confused, “How do you know?”   
  
“None of us ever said ‘minor stump’, right?”    
  
More silence. This especially piqued the Alteans’ interest. Allura shakily numbered on her fingers, “Constant avoiding. Sudden change in personality. Talking to himself...”   
  
“It could just be schizophrenia.” Pidge offered. Hunk rebutted, “No. He was all happy go lucky before. It’s all too sudden.”   
  
“Wait!” Allura shouted, “I just need to test something...I need all the help I can get.”   
  
Shiro placed his hand on her leg, “Of course, Princess, what do you need?”   
  
“Okay. Let me explain what might be happening with Lance.”   
———————————————————   
*Boom!*   
  
It had been a week since the Allura incident.   
  
*Boom!*   
  
Lance hadn’t seen another human being in forever.   
  
*Boom!*   
  
He’s shot down robot after robot.   
  
*Boom!*   
  
He felt faint. Only eating once a day can do a lot damage.   
  
*Boom!*   
  
He felt no regret. After all, this is his pay back.   
  
*Boom!*   
  
That’s the sound of another robot getting shot.   
  
*Boom*   
  
*Boom*   
  
*Boom*   
  
“Lance!”   
  
He barely caught his name. He looked towards the entrance of the training room. It was Hunk and Pidge. They were probably going to beg him to apologize or something. He sighed, “End Training Sequence.”   
  
Pidge examined the hours Lance had put in his training, “You’ve been training a lot lately. Have you even been eating?”   
  
“No. I see no need to. I am becoming a better Paladin so I see no problem with that.” Lance explained robotically. Pidge turned their attention back to him, “Oh really now? So that’s why you’ve been avoiding us?”   
  
“I have not been avoiding.” Lance lied. Apparently Hunk was taking the emotional approach, “Come on, Lance. We really miss you. We miss your over dramatic antics. You miss your jokes!”   
  
“As far as I see it,” Lance harshly hit back, “you never liked any of those things about me, seeing that you’ve left me behind.”   
  
“Hey! Don’t talk shit to Hunk, pay attention to me!” Pidge gritted out. Lance did as they said.   
  
“Allura is about to use this training room. And you are coming with us. It’s a mind meld activity.”   
  
Lance felt a pang of anxiety at this.   
  
“You don’t have anything to hide, do you?”   
  
Lance could see multiple emotions in those seemingly blank brown eyes. They had a huge mix of anger, worry and a strange hint of happiness, yet it was barely noticeable.   
  
“Very well. This better be important.” Lance growled. He didn’t like where this was going. Even Ash didn’t understand,  **“Hey? What is this ‘mind meld activity’?”** **  
**   
“It’s where they have a peek into what you’re thinking about. But you have to be thinking about forming Voltron the whole time.” Lance turned away and whispered, but it still caught the attention of the Paladins in front of him. Lance turned back to the people in front of him and smiled, “Can I leave? I might as well shower since I don’t want to smell.”   
  
“I think you won’t be going anywhere.” Pidge said a little too hostile. Hunk patted her on the head in comfort as he toned it down a little, “That’s because, well, you’re here right now! And the rest are coming so there’s no time.”   
  
Lance looked at the little Paladin, who seemed to be failing at hiding her glare. Lance shrugged, “Alright.”    
  
But inside, Lance was scared. Do they know? Are they going to take  **me** away?    
  
**“Lancey, don’t worry about it. Your mind is already blocked from the universe. Even with that stupid mind melding trick, they’re not going to break down the wall in your mind!”** **  
**   
Lance took deep breaths. Hunk got worried, “Lance, are you okay?”   
  
“Yes. I am fine.” Lance said formally. The next few minutes were awkward with Pidge silently glowering at him and Lance calculating on what to do while Hunk anxiously shifted every few seconds. Finally, the wait ended when they each heard footsteps.    
  
“Alright, Paladins. We are going to do what were did at first. Since we failed to form Voltron during our previous mission, we’re going to form Voltron in our minds again.” Allura explained, handing each Paladin a helmet. Lance examined it closely, ‘This should be easy.’   
  
Each Paladin sat down to created a circle. Lance noted that Coran was standing next to him and Hunk. Allura was the one in control, “Okay. Now clear your minds. Be open to your fellow Paladins. Remember. These are your friends, not enemies.”   
  
Lance would’ve scoffed at this if he weren’t in deep shit right now. They all closed their eyes. He didn’t open his mind. He only let them see what they needed to see, which was happiness. Of course, Keith was the one who said something first, “Lance, open your mind.”   
  
“I am, Keith. Look at all these happy memories.” Lance said carefully. He could feel Keith frown. For some reason, everyone’s mind came to his. They all expected it to be a barricade, the only thing protecting the demon inside. Pidge let out a breath shakily, “I thought you weren’t hiding anything.”   
  
“I’m not.”   
  
“Then open your mind.”   
  
It was tense. It was like everyone was stepping on eggshells, expecting something to pop out. They were trying to keep Lance from suspecting something was up while Lance was keeping them away from Ash.    
  
“You’re not hiding anything, are you?” Keith asked firmly. Lance answered back bluntly, “No.”    
  
“Then why is there a giant barricade?”    
  
“You’re just imagining things.” Lance lied. He winced when Keith’s mind spirit pounded at the barricade, “Open up, Lance.”   
  
“No.” Lance calmly said. Tensions were rising fast. One person was waiting for something, anything to happen. Coran’s hands were getting sweaty behind his back, clutching the antidote hard like it was his lifeline. But to everyone’s surprise, it was Ash who made the first move,  **“What the fuck are you all doing here?!”** **  
**   
Ash’s shadow body moved straight through Keith’s spirit and Keith faded away. In the real world, Keith’s eyes shot open and he chucked off the helmet as a massive headache formed.    
  
**“Do you think you can just get rid of me by some stupid antidote?!”** Ash screeched,  **“Fat Chance!”** **  
**   
Shiro was next on her list. He was harder to get rid of. He dodged her attacks, no weapon in hand to defend against Ash. He made an x with his arms above his face as he blocked a direct punch from her, “Pidge, Hunk, go get Lance!”   
  
They didn’t hesitate but they couldn’t seem to find his mind spirit anywhere.    
  
“Lance?!” Pidge called out for him before her search was cut short when she was shot from behind. Her spirit collapsed and she was pulled back into the real world. She took off the helmet with as much force as Keith as her migraine grew, “Damn!”   
  
“Lance, let’s talk about this.” Hunk nervously stepped backwards away from Lance. The blue Paladin looked deadly cold with no sign of remorse or regret anywhere, “We have nothing to talk about. You’re all going to betray me again by getting rid of the person I care about the most...”   
  
“Lance! I’m your best friend! We’ve known each other for years!” Hunk defended. In Hunk’s horror, Lance’s weapon turned into a sword, “Then you should’ve helped me…”

 

With a heavy downward swing, Hunk was forced back into the real world. Now Shiro was left. But Allura cut it short, “Coran! Now!”

 

Coran aimed the needle towards the top of Lance’s exposed spine.

 

**“Lance! You have to get out!”** Ash demanded. Lance nodded quickly and stabbed himself, just reaching the real world in a split second before Coran stabbed the antidote in him. Lance had no time to take care of his migraine; he quickly lied flat on the floor and did a crocodile roll out of danger. 

 

“Oh no you don’t!” Coran growled as he ran after the blue Paladin. Poor Shiro was on the floor, having been electrocuted by the forced exit. Keith was at his side while Hunk and Pidge tried to help Coran. But Lance was simply too fast, too smart. They weren’t prepared for his sudden talent at misdirection. One moment he could be running them in circles before he cut halfway through the training room. It was almost comical. Even Allura tried to block his direction before she was pushed onto her butt with such a force that she had to message it after. Unfortunately, Coran, Pidge and Hunk were too tired to continue at some point, letting Lance bolt out of the training room. 

 

“Oh, you’ve got to be-“ Allura was on her feet in that instance, yanking the antidote out of Coran’s hand. She ran after Lance, who just so happened to stop at a crossway of hallways. He whipped around and yelled, “Come get me, ‘Princess’!”

 

The Altean growled lowly before darting straight for Lance. Just as she was near his face, she flipped right over him, disorienting him momentarily. Allura felt victorious as she yanked down the back of Lance’s hoodie and ready the antidote for insertion. But to her horror, Lance had a faster reaction time. When she barely inserted it in the skin, her feet were swept by his legs and she was on the floor yet again. Lance took a few steps back before he struggled to yank the needle out. Once he successfully did, he threw it to the ground, smashing the team’s only hope at getting the real Lance back. Allura was horrified, “No!”

 

“Did you think it was  **going to be easy against us? AAAARRRGH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”** Lance’s voice sounded like it was malfunctioning. Lance placed his hands on either side of his head, his body shaking furiously,  **“No you imbecile! This is...what you wanted! I am here now! I am Lance! I am the real and better Lance!”**

 

“No…” A more gentle voice fought through, “I can’t...this isn’t what I wanted. I wanted my friends to like me!” Lance’s head shook from side to side. 

 

**“No! You wanted to be a better Paladin!”**

 

“No! Don’t do this! Please…” Lance collapsed, Allura staring at him apologetically and in horror, “Lance…”

 

“Allura...please save me!” Lance reached out for her, his blue eyes filled with tears before he groaned in pain again and screamed. Allura felt herself being pulled up by her under arms.

 

“Princess, we have to leave!” Coran said, the remaining Paladins behind him. Pidge tugged on his arm, “We can’t just leave Lance behind! He’ll only get worse!”

 

“But without the antidote, he’s basically gone!” Keith argued. Hunk butted in, “We can’t give up hope!”

 

Shiro supported Hunk as well, “Pidge and Hunk are right. We need our sharpshooter. Lance is as important as everyone here.”

 

Keith shakily nodded his head towards Shiro. Allura kindly went with the popular vote whilst thinking about the previous blue Paladin, “Yes. I don’t want to lose someone like him again.”

 

So it was settled; they would try and save Lance. Just as Coran was about to say something again, they noticed that Lance’s screams had quieted down to low groans. When they turned around, Lance had stopped grimacing in pain. Instead, he was slowly gaining back his cold composure. Coran nervously and quickly offered advice, “The pods could possibly hold him. They could possibly keep him in cold sleep until we have the medicine ready-“

 

A bayard was thrown near Coran’s head. To everyone’s horror, it was a sword. Lance taunted, “Remember, Shiro? ‘Be more like Keith.’ Since you love him so much, you can have two Keith’s.”

 

With that, Lance darted straight for Shiro. The Paladins dispersed in different directions but Lance seemed to be gunning for Shiro. As they both ran past the thrown bayard, Lance swiped it back up and chased Shiro down the hallway. Shiro’s day didn’t seem to be going well for him; he ended up on the bridge. He was cornered. Shiro frantically pleaded, “Lance, please fight this!”

 

**“There is no more Lance!”** Lance shouted with a demonic voice as he drew up his sword again.

 

“Hey! Bitch face!”

 

Lance paused when he heard the familiar voice of Pidge. 

 

“You’re so weak, lol!” Pidge shouted again, “And slow!”

 

Lance immediately turned around and darted after her, leaving Shiro behind. 

 

The scientist wasn’t exactly faster than Lance due to his extensive training. But she took this into account beforehand. Just as Lance caught up, there was an overbearing shadow. He was barely able to look up before he felt a crushing weight on his back. Hunk...Hunk was laying on him.

 

“I’ve got him!” Was what Hunk was about to say before Lance bit down on the nearest finger, which happened to be Hunk’s thumb. Hunk’s eyes shot up in pain and he was off of Lance in an instance. Lance was up and running again with his bayard. Pide cursed, “Dammit.”

 

Lance was silently searching the hallways for five minutes when he finally came across a familiar red Paladin. He seemed to have a bucket of water with him. Lance whispered, “Found you.”

 

Keith heard him. He dropped the bucket and ran. Lance ran after him, almost slipping across the water before regaining speed again. Keith and Lance were as fast as each other but Keith was going in the wrong direction. He was heading towards the dining which was a perfect place to corner the Mullet man. Lance couldn’t help himself as he started to smirk. It wasn’t a friendly one but more of a terrifying dog smile.

 

“Slow down, Keith. You’re prolonging the inevitable.” Lance huffed. Keith didn’t say anything and kept running even faster. Lance scoffed, “Two can play that ga-“

 

Keith had turned direction the moment they were at dining room doorway. But Lance couldn’t change directions in time. Instead, he was skidding across the floor and he couldn’t stop. Before he could even process what to do, his head smashed into the wall hard. His body falls onto the  _ wet _ floor.

 

‘Oh. I see now.’ Lance thought to himself as he his vision faded to black, ‘That was smart.’

———————————————————

When Lance woke up, he was falling. He gasped before he is caught by two muscular arms. Drearily, he looked up, “Oh hey Shiro.”

 

The black Paladin smiled down at him, “Welcome back, Lance.”

 

Lance was confused, “Huh? ‘Welcome back?’ Did I leave or something?”

 

“You mean you don’t remember?” Keith’s voice came from behind Shiro. Lance retorted, “Can it, mullet! It’s not like you can even remember what we had for breakfast!”

 

“I do. We had food goo!” Keith said defensively. Lance heard Hunk snort from the background. 

 

Coran was also in the background, “He is currently suffering from temporary amnesia. It may clear up after an hour or 2 and he’ll be back to normal!”

 

The blue Paladin tried to steady himself on his two feet, “Whatever! I just want food! I’m starved, man.”

 

“Food?” Hunk questioned. Lance glared at him lightly, “Yeah! You know? Grum! Chow! Gumbo! Help me out here, man!”

 

Hunk’s smile is wide, “You’re gonna enjoy this then.”

 

When Lance is sitting at the kitchen, he is served his absolute favorite: garlic knots. Lance stared at it, “Woah! Seriously?”

 

Pidge just rolled her eyes fondly, “Well, don’t just look at it. Eat up, you little shit!”

 

Lance disregarded the comment and the other comment about language from Shiro and started to gulp down one garlic knot after another. Hunk laughed, “Hey! Ease up a little, man! And I thought Keith was hungry after waiting for you days at a time.”

 

Lance stopped to look at Keith with a cocky grin, “Awwww, you were worried about me, mullet man?”

 

Keith gawked at Lance before looking away, “N-No!”

 

“Oh yes you were!”

 

“Okay, maybe! But could you really blame me?”

 

Then, Lance felt all the sad eyes on him. He looked at each of his teammates...no, his friends. His family. 

 

“Are you guys okay? You guys are happy to see me, right?” Lance asked cautiously. Pidge nodded, “We are but shouldn’t you be mad?”

 

“About what?”

 

“About...well, treating you like shit?”

 

Lance looked surprised, “What? No! Why would I? Of course I was a little depressed but I would never get mad at you guys. When you’re all happy, I’m happy as well. You’re all my family.” 

 

Each and everyone of them held different levels of shock. Allura wanted to apologize first, “I just wanted to say sorry for singling you out during every mission and training session.”

 

Lance just sighs as he shook his head, “Allura, no, don’t apologize. You were just stressed as always. You just so happened to always take that out on the wrong person...and the same person. Just make sure in the future you congratulate everyone, okay? If you need me, I’m always here.”

 

Lance looked more apologetically at Allura now, “I’m very sorry about that comment about your father.”

 

Allura gazed into his soft blue eyes. She felt a happiness in her heart when she sees that they’re bright again, “That’s quite alright.”

 

Lance then turned his attention to his two Garrison friends, who both seem ashamed at their behavior as friends.

 

“Look. I can’t blame you two. You guys are team Punk and I don’t want to split that up! You guys are always working so hard for the team!”

 

“But we ignored the signs, Lance.” Pidge said gently. Hunk added on, “I allowed this to happen-“

 

“No and no. You were both were concentrating and working very hard. You can’t blame yourselves for that. You all didn’t allow this to happen; I did. I agreed to it.” Lance glanced at his now clear wrist. Keith looked more guilty than anyone else in the room currently. He chose to look away from Lance the entire time. Lance noticed this and just gave a fond smile before he got up to hug the young man.

 

“Keith. I know you’re only looking out for the team and I know you’re not good with words.” Lance let go and looked him in the eyes, “But using mean words is not going to motivate them. Just some advice.”

 

Lance left Keith in awe, “What happened to witch bitch?”

 

Pidge laughed at that as Coran explained, “Well let me tell you!”

———————————————————

_ When Coran injected the needle into the ball of Lance’s spine, a dark shadow was ejected from the Paladin’s body. Ash coughed up a storm, “N-No! This wasn’t supposed to happen...this wasn’t supposed to!” _

 

_ Pidge glowered at her, “Shut up and die already! You were messing with the wrong people.” _

 

_ Ash glared at each of them, “You all didn’t care about him before! Why did you start...to care now?!” _

 

_ Then Ash drifts between her physical and shadow form, “W-wait! I can *hack* be useful! You’ll all die without me on your side! *cough* I swear I can-“ _

 

_ Ash choked as Allura lightly pushed her on her back. Each Paladin glared down at her as she choked to death. Ash tried to crawl away during her last seconds of living before she gave up.  _

 

_ “I-I will be back for my main Paladin.” She said with a satisfied smile as her shadow form faded, “You can count on that.” _

 

_ When she completely faded, there seemed to be no trace of her; like nothing had happened _

———————————————————

“You make it sound a lot darker than it was supposed to.” Pidge complained. Coran frowned, “What? Isn’t that what we did?”

 

Lance clasped his hands together to interrupt, “Anyway, I just wanted to say this...”

 

Everyone in the room turned their attention back to Lance.

 

“We all aren’t perfect. We can still make mistakes. Let’s do it right the second time, shall we?”

 

Team Voltron cheered at that statement. Because they knew they weren’t perfect. But they can damn well try to be the best. After that, Lance still suffered the consequences a little. He had nightmares of Ash taking over and killing everyone. He had Shiro to help him though. He had anxious thoughts about her from time to time but Pidge and Hunk were there to distract him by using any means necessary. His homesickness was even worse after the events of Ash but Allura and Coran saw this. They would both talk about their home planet; Allura talking about their customs and her heartwarming memories while Coran talked about some wild memories of his. Keith also helped and Lance helped him. Lance taught him the human ways of comfort while Keith taught him how to use the sword that was formed during the incident. They especially became close friends after that. Ash never did fulfill her own promise. Lance was never affected by a Heorym again.

 

Because he knew he belonged there. And everyone made sure he knew he belonged there.

**Author's Note:**

> This was very fun to make! I did want to make it into multiple chapters but I stayed in one chapter! Anyway, I really hoped you demons enjoyed and ✌️!
> 
> Twitter: Windfall13  
> Tumblr: windfall13   
> Discord: https://discord.gg/V7kbn8y


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